It has been proposed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,860,057, issued Jan. 14, 1975, to T. W. Garlick, to manufacture a strip of anodes using continuous casting apparatus including upper and lower flexible belts having movable edge dams disposed between them and moving therewith at substantially the same speed. The edge dams are formed by a series of blocks which provide spaced recesses extending the full depth of the edge dams to permit the casting of integral lugs on the anodes.
One disadvantage of such an arrangement is that the continuous flexible metal strip on which the blocks are strung in end-to-end relationship is displaced away from the centerline of the respective edge dam toward the outer side of the blocks in a drastically offset position. This eccentrically located strip more tightly binds together the successive blocks along their outer sides as compared to their inner sides. The blocks along their inner sides are then bound together by a sequence of separate lengths of stranded flexible cable passing through longitudinal holes in the blocks intermediate the locations of their full depth recesses. Each such length of cable begins downstream from a full depth recess and ends upstream from the next successive full depth recess in the edge dam. The beginning and ending of each length of cable is anchored to respective blocks by means of socket set screws. Thus, the edge dams in a molten casting environment tend to exhibit more slack along their inner sides where the separate lengths of stranded cable are utilized as compared with their outer sides where the continuous metal strip is located. The operating result of these differences in slack along the inner and outer sides of each edge dam is illustrated in FIG. 1. The construction, handling and operation of such edge dam block assemblies is necessarily complicated and time consuming, and various operating problems can develop in a production environment due to their complexity.
It has also been proposed in that U.S. Pat. No. 3,860,057 to Garlick to synchronize the travel of the two edge dams by providing a rotatable shaft extending across the width of the casting machine at the input end of the machine and carried in a pair of suitable bearings near opposite sides of the machine. A pair of toothed wheels are secured to opposite ends of the shaft. The teeth of these wheels engage in synchronizing recesses in the blocks spaced along the outer sides of the respective edge dams.
A disadvantage of such an arrangement is that this rotatable shaft with its bearings and toothed wheels increases the complexity of the mechanism at the input of the machine and tends to constrict the room available for the apparatus which introduces the molten metal, thereby adding to the operating difficulties. Another disadvantage of such an arrangement is that whenever one of the edge dams is tending to lag or lead the other, the toothed wheels cause tugging and pulling on the respective dam blocks, shifting their relative positions, with the possibility of opening up spaces between successive blocks, which then provides an opportunity for flashing of molten metal into spaces between the blocks.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,504,429, issued Apr. 7, 1970, to W.R.N. Snelgrove, it was proposed to manufacture anodes by continuously casting a plate of metal, cutting it into anode lengths, and subsequently using a press to form notches in each anode. Then the anodes were suspended by reusable hangers engaging in these notches.
A disadvantage of such an arrangement is that the hangers, once the anodes have been used, have to be returned to the casting apparatus for use with new anodes. This handling of the hangers and use of a press to form notches involves additional labor and machinery, with resultant expenses, and this procedural sequence increases the overall complexity of dealing with the anodes.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,776,017, issued Dec. 4, 1973, to H. Ikeda, M. Yoneda and M. Ishii, a system for continuous manufacture of copper anodes is described in which a continuous strip of copper plate is cut into a series of generally T-shaped anodes. These T-shaped anodes extend transversely of the strips, and each successive anode as it is blanked out of the strip is reversed in position from its neighbor.
A disadvantage of this system is the need for a powerful blanking press for forming the anodes and associated equipment for diverging the severed anodes in different directions and for sorting and inspecting them. Also, the projecting lugs of the T-shaped anodes have the same thickness as the body of the anode.